Would Deion Sanders be the Right fit for Georgia Tech?
With head coach Geoff Collins being let go as the Georgia Tech head coach, all eyes are going to be on who the Yellow Jackets are going to be trying to hire. The name that is going to be heavily linked to the Georgia Tech head coach vacancy is none other than Atlanta icon and current Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders.
Could Deion Sanders be the next head coach at Georgia Tech?
Sanders has been rumored for coaching jobs since he started having success at Jackson State and has interviewed for other power five jobs as well. Arkansas and TCU are the most notable ones and there have been nonstop rumors about him ending up at Florida State at some point in his career.
However, those rumors never really got anywhere and those schools either hired other coaches (TCU and Arkansas) or denied the rumors altogether (Florida State).
However, there might be something to Deion being a candidate at Georgia Tech. Sanders is from the city of Atlanta and is still a beloved sports figure there from his time with the Falcons and the Braves.
Travis Hunter signing with Jackson State is in large part due to Deion Sanders
What Sanders has done not only for Jackson State but for HBCUs, in general, has been nothing short of exceptional. Sanders has made Jackson State one of the most recognizable brands in college football and has brought in some top talent to the school. The most obvious one is a former number one overall recruit and Georgia native Travis Hunter. Hunter was one of the best high school football players in recent memory and on signing day, Sanders swooped in out of nowhere and got Hunter to sign with Jackson State instead of Florida State, a move that shocked the college football world.
But it has not just been all about hype and recruiting. Sanders has won games at Jackson State, including 11 wins in the 2021 season alone. His son, Shedeur Sanders, has turned into one of the top quarterbacks in the country and that can be accredited to the kind of staff and culture that he has built.
Would Sanders leave what he has built with Jackson State for a chance to come back to the city of Atlanta? That is another thing entirely. It is also unclear at the moment how interested Georgia Tech is in Sanders. However, the rumors have been going on for a couple of months and have really taken off in the last few weeks.
There is probably no other candidate out there for Georgia Tech that could bring the upside that Sanders does, but there is a downside to this move as well. First of all, with Georgia Tech's academic restrictions, it could be harder for Sanders to recruit the kinds of players that he would want to. Second, he has not held a position at a power five school before, and going from Jackson State to Georgia Tech is a big move. I think that he certainly capable of being successful, but that does not mean his lack of experience at the highest level is not concerning. Third, Georgia Tech might not have the budget and resources to give Sanders everything that he is going to want to succeed. Sanders is going to want to bring in top-level coordinators and coaching staff and if Georgia Tech can't meet those demands, then I don't think he would risk leaving what he has built at Jackson State for a rebuilding project in Georgia Tech without being given the full resources to be able to succeed.
Deion Sanders could be the best candidate for Georgia Tech
There is also likely to be competition for Sanders as a head coach as well. The Arizona State job is already open and it is likely that Auburn is going to open at some point in the near future. Those jobs might be able to offer more in terms of resources and money and they don't have the academic standards that Georgia Tech does.
I think it would be worth the risk for Georgia Tech to try and bring in Sanders to be the head coach. However, I don't think that Sanders is likely to be serious about taking the job unless Georgia Tech proves that it is serious about its football program and making it better.
There are going to be a lot of rumors out there about this coaching vacancy in the coming weeks and months. Sanders is likely to be linked to this job at every turn and we will see what where this coaching search goes. This is a critical hire for the future of Georgia Tech football and they need to be sure to hire the right candidate for this program or risk things getting worse.
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